Teal independents

After constituents of the division of Indi, in rural Victoria, felt ignored by MP Sophie Mirabella after sending her a report about issues in Indi, the group Voices for Indi was formed, with the aim of making Indi a marginal seat and forcing Mirabella to preferences. Voices for Indi, who decided not to become a party, endorsed Cathy McGowan. Initially, Voices for Indi was reluctant to go public, as Mirabella had a history of making personal attacks towards opponents.[5] After a strong grassroots campaign,[6] McGowan won the seat at the 2013 election.[7] McGowan retired from parliament at the 2019 federal election and Voices for Indi campaigned for Helen Haines to succeed McGowan.[8]

In the 2018 Wentworth by-election, Kerryn Phelps won the seat of Wentworth on a 19% swing towards her, succeeding former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and forcing Turnbull's successor as prime minister, Scott Morrison, into a minority government. The result was attributed to the dumping of Turnbull, a popular local member, as prime minister in favour of Morrison.[9][10] At the 2019 election, seven months later, Phelps lost the seat to the Liberals' Dave Sharma, who had narrowly lost to Phelps at the 2018 by-election.[11] Also at the 2019 election, Voices of Warringah, in inner-northern Sydney, successfully campaigned against incumbent member and former prime minister, Tony Abbott, in favour of former alpine skier Zali Steggall.[12] In Warringah, Steggall ran on a platform almost entirely focused on climate change action, contrasting with Abbott, a prominent conservative and climate change denier, who had once called the science behind climate change "crap".[13]

In the 2020 Queensland state election, independents Claire Richardson and Sandy Bolton ran campaigns using the colour teal, and with similar policies to Haines and Steggall, with the latter being successful in Noosa.[14][15]

Influenced by the corresponding groups in Indi and Warringah, a number of Voices groups organised before the 2022 election, around issues relating to the environment and political integrity.[16][17] At the 2022 federal election, teal independents defeated six sitting Liberal MPs; Allegra Spender in Wentworth, Kylea Tink in North Sydney, Zoe Daniel in Goldstein, Monique Ryan in Kooyong, Kate Chaney in Curtin, and Sophie Scamps in Mackellar.[18][19][20][21] In addition, Zali Steggall, Rebekha Sharkie and Helen Haines were re-elected.[22] Another ten teal lower house candidates were unsuccessful. In the Senate, David Pocock was elected for the ACT, while two others were not.

Voices groups and Climate 200 stood candidates in a number of seats at the 2022 Victorian election,[23][24][25] however none won and only two reached a two-candidate-preferred vote.[26][27]

In the 2022 Willoughby state by-election, Larissa Penn, who had already ran in 2019, gained 29.66% (or 46.70% in TCP). She has been counted as a teal candidate.[28][29] In NSW, despite the success of teal independents in 2022 in Sydney, only one teal independent was elected, Judy Hannan in Wollondilly,[30] likely due to optional preferential voting in New South Wales.[31]

Most teal independent candidates have received the support of fundraising group Climate 200 (a political funding company led by Simon Holmes à Court), and are largely female candidates challenging Liberal Party incumbent MPs. Ten candidates for the House of Representatives and one candidate for the Senate considered teal independents were elected in 2022, of which seven were elected for the first time.[32]

Teal independents have been categorised in the media by financial and administrative associations with Climate 200. They are generally unaffiliated to a political party, except Rebekha Sharkie (Centre Alliance, first elected in 2016) and some candidates from The Local Party.[33] Senate candidates David Pocock and Kim Rubenstein also formed political parties for ballot purposes.[34]

In addition to financial support from fundraising organisations such as Climate 200, candidates raised significant amounts of money directly through their personal fundraising arms.[35][36][37]

Political law professor Graeme Orr describes the movement as a "nascent political movement", sharing resources and strategies across seats, and with similar policy focuses on climate change, government integrity and gender equality.[43]

A number of former politicians on the advisory council of Climate 200 endorsed the teal independents, including John Hewson, Rob Oakeshott, Tony Windsor and Meg Lees. Turnbull, whose former seat of Wentworth was won by Spender, encouraged moderate Liberals to consider voting for the teal independents.[44] Others endorsed specific candidates, such as former Fraser government minister, Ian Macphee, who endorsed Zoe Daniel.[45] In one supportive editorial, The Age found that the teal independents "have often struggled to articulate policies crucial issues to Australia, including its relationship with China, the mounting debt bill, tax reform and cost-of-living pressures".[46]

Due to the impact and significance of the teal independents, "teal" was announced as "word of the year" by the Australian National Dictionary Centre.[47][48] The teals, as well as Pocock and Haines, were shortlisted for the Emerging Political Leader of the Year 2022 by the McKinnon Prize, which Haines won.[49]

• Liberals for Forests (2001–2008)
• Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy Australia (2007–2010)
• Condorcet winner criterion
• Green Liberalism
• Malcolm Turnbull
• Teal Deal, a hypothetical New Zealand Green–National alliance in the mid 2000s
• Voices groups in Australia

1.^ Despite being supported by Climate 200, Hannan has distanced herself from the label "teal".[57]